Islam_in_Focus_text

and wili look for some other kind of companionship and
consolation from somebody else. This is made easy for him
when women outnumber men. If he cannot get it through
honest channels, he will get it by other means with the result
of immoral and indecent intimacies, which may involve ille-
gitimacy, abortion and other endless troubles. These may be
ugly and bitter facts, but they are real and acute problems.
They have to be solved in a way that will secure the individ-
ual, male or female, and protect society.
The solution which Islam offers in this respect is a per-
mission to the unhappy and dissatisfied husband to marry a
second wife and live with her openly in a responsible way
with equal fulfilment of all obligations to the first wife and
to the second. Similarly, it helps unmarried women satisfy
their needs, realize their longings and fulfill their legitimate
aspirations and natural desires. It gives them a permission to
associate with men by marriage and enjoy all the rights and
privileges of legal wives. In this way Islam does not try to
evade the question or ignore the problem. It is realistic and
frank, straightforward and practical. The solution which Is-
lam offers is legal, decent and benevolent. Islam suggests
this solution because it can never tolerate hypocrisy in hu-
man relations. It cannot accept as legal and moral the atti-
tude of a man who in by law married to one wife and in real-
ity has unlimited scope of intimacies and secret relationships.